Robertson Takes Championship Lead With Knockhill Double

Charlie Robertson has seized the advantage in the 2012 Ginetta Junior Championship with a stunning pair of victories at Knockhill.

The 15 year old took a pair of pole positions in qualifying and was able to convert both into lights to flag wins to give himself the championship lead by four points from chief rivals Niall Murray and Sennan Fielding.

The opening race on Saturday afternoon started perfectly for the HHC Motorsport star, Robertson getting a great getaway and a clean opening couple of laps to lead by nearly two seconds by the end of lap two from Fielding and Murray.

Rather than challenging Fielding ahead, Murray was left to defend, with his mirrors getting filled by Oliver Chadwick and Harry Woodhead behind. Chadwick looked to challenge, but soon lost a place himself, with Woodhead coming past on lap seven. The rookie was straight on the Irishman’s bumper and worked his way into the podium positions three laps later.

Ahead, Robertson cruised home to victory, winning by 3.3 seconds from Fielding. Woodhead was seven seconds further behind, setting the fastest lap of the race on his way to his third podium of the season, with Murray fourth.

Problems for Chadwick saw him drop down the field before eventually retiring on lap ten, promoting Andrew Watson up to fifth. Pepe Massot worked his way up from tenth on the grid to take sixth ahead of Oliver Basey-Fisher and Elliot Paterson, the Scotsman matching his best result of the season so far.

Sunday’s live televised encounter saw Robertson lead away from pole once again, with Fielding slotting into second ahead of Murray. It didn’t last long though, with a mistake from Fielding seeing him hit the kerb hard at the chicane, sending him spinning round.

Murray just avoided him to slot into second, while as the field bunched up behind, Paterson also span round, having started a seasons best fifth, while Woodhead was forced wide in avoidance, returning to the track with an advertising boarding attached to the front of his car.

Watson, who started eighth, avoided the chaos to dive into third ahead of Chadwick, with Woodhead recovering to seventh, Fielding twelfth and Paterson thirteenth.

Despite the boarding on his car, Woodhead looked to fight his way back ahead of William Palmer and Massot. The trio headed into the final hairpin side-by-side on lap three, with Massot on the outside getting spun round the front of Palmer onto the wet grass, the Spaniard taking a while to get back on track. Woodhead stayed in fifth, while Palmer fell to tenth after the contact.

Woodhead soon had Fielding on his tail, the JHR Developments driver having passed both Keith Donegan and Basey-Fisher on lap five to take sixth, before working his way past Woodhead three laps later.

At the front, Robertson started to come under real pressure from a closing Murray, but a slight mistake for the determined Irishman saw him run wide at the chicane, allowing Robertson the breathing room to comfortably take his sixth win of the season.

Murray set a new lap record on his way to second, with Watson making it a double podium for Douglas Motorsport with his third podium of the season. Chadwick took fourth ahead of the recovering Fielding, while some inevitable over-heating dropped Woodhead to seventh behind Donegan. Palmer, Paterson and Tom Jackson completed the top ten.